Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Deep Nutrition: The Good Old Days

"According the John "Fire Lane" Deer, the eating of guts had evolved into  contest.  "In the old days we used to eat the guts of the buffalo, making a contest of it, two fellows getting hold of a long piece of intestines from opposite ends, starting chewing toward the middle, seeing who can get there first; that's eating.  Those buffalo guts, full of half-fermented, half digested grass and herbs, you didn't need any pills and vitamins when you swallowed those."

From Catherine Shanahan's "Deep Nutrition", available in my aStore.  I'm just starting this book, and so far it is informative and enjoyable.  I have yet to find THE book to recommend without hesitation for anyone who wants to know more about the idea of the paleo diet; perhaps this one will be it.  Of the many I've read, each has their flaw.

The above highlights a problem we have in replicating a paleo diet, and why I think of it as a "model".   No sense pretending I can eat like they ate.  In the sense of doing the one thing that gets 80% of the benefit - don't over consume carbohydrate.  Once that is under control, refinements can be made over time to improve upon that basic guidance.

Another quick anecdote:
"When asked how the indians know how to prevent scurvy, the old Indian described how when he kills a moose he opens it up and at the back of the moose just above the kidney there are what he described as two small balls in the fat [adrenal glands].  These he said the Indian would cut up into as many pieces as there were little and big Indians in the family and each one would eat his piece."

I'll admit - I'd rather just squeeze some lemon into my Norcal Margarita.  None the less, I find these stories fascinating and it makes me curious to see if I can find these kinds of organs on the next deer I kill.

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